


Not All Joe Gibbs Drivers

by Resistance



Category: NASCAR RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 03:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2373101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resistance/pseuds/Resistance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kasey is angry. Very angry. There's only one person that can help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not All Joe Gibbs Drivers

_August 11, 2013_

_Watkins Glen, New York_

_8:00pm_

Kasey had always been taught to hide his feelings. He was told they didn’t help him, they made him make irrational decisions, they were better buried deep inside and ignored. Which, most of the time, he agreed with. But not today. Today he wanted to show every single emotion he had ever felt and he wanted everyone to know it.

Because, yet again, Kasey found himself standing in the garage, looked down on his car’s accordioned hood. There should have been telltale flecks of yellow paint on the black hood, but he couldn’t even grasp the satisfaction in the fact he’d ripped paint off that son of a bitch. His crew was working all around him to repair every ounce of damage that had been inflicted on his car, but Kasey knew from experience that it wouldn’t happen any time soon. The race was long since over. But still his anger rose.

He’d lost track of how many people had told him to stay off Twitter when he was angry. They all had to sit through a meeting about the fact that they were to stay off Twitter when they were angry. But Kasey found his phone in his hand anyway. He stared at the blinking cursor for a long moment, trying to convince himself that this would be a bad idea. But the anger won and his thumb was typing before he could think of a good reason not to.

Kasey took a few steps towards the garage door, but heard a voice behind him, “Kahne, don’t you dare.” He didn’t have to turn around to know whose voice it was or to know that he wasn’t messing around. Kasey sighed but turned his attention back to his car and the repairs being executed on it. When they started the race, that car had been good enough to win again, like he had done last weekend, he was sure of that. Now it was closer to scrap metal than a car.  They had all week to repair it, but no one wanted to let it sit that long in this state and they all had angry energy to burn off. He knew he couldn’t help, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to.

 _Bzzt_. He looked down at his phone and groaned out loud.

Denny. Of course. Kasey wanted to stay angry, but he couldn’t help the smile. The only saving grace of that whole organization. Hell, half the time Denny was the only saving grace of his race weekends. Earlier that day, they’d started the race side-by-side, and even if Kasey made himself keep his eyes straight forward, he knew full well that Denny smiled at him before the race began. He didn’t need to see it in person to be able to see it in his head. That was Denny.

After Kenseth hit him, and Kasey was sitting in half his car with his eyes closed, that was the image that came floating through his mind, his subconscious’ way of calming his temper. He could imagine the announcers watching the footage and trying to figure out who hit who in those tight confines. (Has he mentioned how much he hates this track? Everyone hates this track except Ambrose.) He knew what happened, he saw it firsthand. But if he thought about it, if he let his mind focus on that, he was going to give the media exactly the kind of quotes they wanted and Mr Hendrick hated. _Deep breath_ , he’d told himself, _To this day when I hear that song....._

Once he was in front of the cameras, he managed to be as civil as required. Though he wasn’t about to let Kenseth off the hook. He wasn’t going to let that whole dirty organization off the hook. For a blessed moment, he put out of his mind the fact that Denny drove for them too, and made his point on social media the only way he could without getting himself fined or worse. But Denny wasn’t going to let him forget that when he put down JGR, he was putting him down too. And he hadn’t done anything wrong. Kasey read the reply over and over. Maybe that was a good idea. Maybe he needed to be reminded that two asshole bad apples didn’t spoil that whole barrel. Kasey typed a reply.

He knew Denny would get the full meaning behind it, but it was for the fans more than him. He had put down the whole organization when he hadn’t meant everyone. Denny in his own way reminded everyone of that. Just because Denny was JGR didn’t mean he was as horrible as the rest of them, but Kasey wasn’t kidding about his anger. He knew there was only one person that could help that, and he knew it too. That was why he’d tweeted. He started for the door again. And again he heard the voice behind him, “Kahne, I’m not kidding.”

Kasey took in a slow deep breath. He couldn’t snap. He couldn’t point out that he was a grown man and was capable of controlling his own temper and his media image and the grand image of Hendrick Motor Sports at the same time. But he had a point. Being able to do all those things after some jackass wrecked you yet again wasn’t a skill every driver possesed. But Kasey did. And they should know that.

He looked back, “I’m going to talk to a _friend_.” There was no chance he was going to call Kenseth-- or anyone from JGR, most of them reasoned-- a ‘friend’. And Kasey wasn’t one to lie about what he was doing. So no one stopped him as he strode out the door and into the night. He took a few deep breaths of the muggy August night air. It didn’t help.

“Inhaling air isn’t going to cut it.”

Kasey turned around and fought off his smile. Denny was leaning against a parked cart, resting comfortably as if he’d been there for a while. His phone was in his hand and Kasey could see the blue Twitter header from the distance away he was standing. Denny had been keeping tabs on him. That’s how he managed to reply four minutes after Kasey tweeted his anger. And why he’d chosen the phrasing he did. He really was ready to talk to him.

“Are you stalking me, Mr Hamlin? Looking for an autograph?” Kasey crossed the distance between them, but stopped short of Denny’s personal space.

“Only if it’s on a check.” It was an old joke. Denny grinned, but when Kasey didn’t return his smile, he lost his own, “Come here.” Denny held his arms open and Kasey moved into them right away. “I’m sorry,” he whispered beside Kasey’s ear, wrapping his arms tightly around him.

“You didn’t do anything.” Kasey closed his eyes and allowed the comfort for a long moment. He allowed himself to relax, to forget the day, to enjoy the fact he had someone that cared about him enough to cross party lines to comfort him. When he pulled back to stand up, he even found a slight smile curling his lips. “They won’t like that you’re consorting with the enemy.”

“I snuck out in disguise. I put Taylor in one of my old firesuits and sat her in front of the window of my motor coach. They’ll never know I was gone.” Denny gave him a crooked grin, “So does that make you Juliet?”

Kasey laughed despite himself. He wasn’t sure if it was at the image of seven-month old Taylor swimming in six feet of firesuit or the idea that Denny could start spewing corny fake Shakespeare any moment if he wasn’t stopped. “I don’t have a balcony and I’d look stupid in a dress.”

“You are pretty enough.” Denny countered as if he’d been waiting for the chance to use that line.  

Kasey blushed against his will, “Thank you, I think.” With a sigh, he sat down on the seat of the cart Denny was leaning against, “Do you guys talk about me? I don’t mean that to sound egotistical, but I’m starting to wonder. Is it that Gibbs wants to get at Hendrick and I’m the only way he dares do it? Is it Kyle? Am I just the favorite target? Why me?” He didn’t expect a reply, but the questions had been bouncing around in his head for so long, it felt good to get them out.

“Yes.” Denny said, quietly.

Kasey’s eyes snapped up to him, “Yes to what? One of those things was true? Which thing?”

Denny sighed, turning his attention to anything but Kasey, “Kyle hates you. You already know that much. The why, I can’t tell you, but I figure you already know.” He paused a minute and when Kasey didn’t offer an explanation, he continued, “Everyone hates Hendrick’s crew. It’s not personal. You’re the best, everyone knows it. You get all the media attention, the pick of sponsors, everything anyone could want. You’re the princes of the sport. And you, my friend....”

“Am the red-headed stepchild.” Kasey suggested with a sigh.

Denny shift, uncomfortably, “Well, if not that, at least the youngest prince and the easiest target. Kyle was just all too willing. It’s not a conspiracy against you personally-- well, except on Kyle’s part-- it’s just an attempt to give HMS a black eye. And the thing is, it works. All of you except JJ finished below thirtieth and Kyle took the race. After what happened last weekend, the boss is happy.” Denny didn’t sound any happier about that than Kasey was.

Kasey sighed again and stood up, moving in front of Denny so he’d have to look at him, “It’s better I know that. I’m not really surprised either. It’s not possible to wreck someone four times by accident. I wish I could tell you why Kyle hates me so much, but I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.” Kasey paused, “Unless it’s you.”

Denny’s eyes went wide, “I don’t hate you!”

Kasey smiled. It was nice not to be the most innocent person in the conversation for a change. Sometimes he was amazed that Denny managed to make Taylor (if he actually did, which didn’t really matter) with as little he seemed to get about subtlety. “I know _that_. I mean... what if Kyle doesn’t hate you either....”

Denny frowned and thought about that for a moment. Then his eyes went wide again and he wrinkled his nose, “You don’t think....” He shook his head firmly, “No. That’s not it. It’s something else. It _has_ to be. It does. No. He never tried anything. Not even once. He couldn’t. No. You probably got into him in a race years ago and he just held on to the grudge.” He was talking fast and over himself to preclude Kasey from interrupting with anything that might resemble disagreement.

Kasey smiled, “Yeah. I probably did.” He was even more sure that he was right, but there was no sense in trying to convince Denny of that. It didn’t matter anyway, it was a foolish reason to repeatedly wreck someone, if it was true. Kasey had enough trouble racing against his own teammates, he didn’t need to deal with someone with a personal vendetta against him.

Denny looked down to meet Kasey’s eyes, as serious as he could possibly be, “It doesn’t matter, you have to know I’d never do any of that stuff. You know that right? I want to win or lose the right way. Every time.”

Absolutely everything in Kasey knew that Denny was being completely honest. He didn’t have to think about it. He knew it was fact. Out of every single driver out there, Denny was the only one he could count on to be completely upright all the time. “You’re telling me you didn’t purposefully wreck early last week to try to take out the rest of your team that Montoya didn’t?” Kasey teased.

Denny’s shoulders dropped as the tension eased, and his smile returned, pleased that Kasey understood him. “Exactly as much as JJ ran into the wall and then sucked to help you out. And _slightly_ less than Gordon on those restarts.”

Kasey shook his head, “Jeff and Jimmie wouldn’t give me a spare lug nut during a race. They’re both great before and after, but we’re all out there to win. And like you said, win the right way. We’re not going to wreck each other on purpose, but we’re not going to make it easier for each other either. That’s what I expect now, and it doesn’t surprise me. It’s targeting that needs to be addressed.” He sighed, looking up at Denny, “I just wish you weren’t on that team.”

Denny nodded, “I know. But I like my ride and I’ve been there so long, it would be weird driving for anyone else. You know that feeling, don’t you? It’s been eight years, good or bad, they’re my team, it’s my home. We’re not all bad. Me and Brad, we don’t do that kind of thing, you know that, right? We would never. Most of that group would never. Sometimes Matt just listens to Kyle too much. It’s not all of us.” He looked apologetic for it, “You still love me, though, right?”

Kasey’s expression softened, “Yes, I still love you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later the next night, still tangled in bedsheets and Kasey’s legs, Denny sent another tweet.

Looking down at Kasey’s sleeping form, Denny realized the question was an honest one.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The tweets are real. The story is kinda real. [Read the article.](http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/blogs/Off-Track/feud-brewing-between-kasey-kahne-kyle-busch-matt-kenseth-joe-gibbs-racing-denny-hamlin.html)


End file.
